General Awareness

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - August 2016

Aug 2016

Jul 30, 2024

Ministry of Earth Sciences Celebrates 18th Foundation Day

The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) celebrated its 18th Foundation Day at its Prithvi Bhavan Headquarters, marking nearly two decades of significant contributions to Earth system sciences. Founded on July 27, 2006, MoES has been at the forefront of scientific research and services. The Ministry's achievements span across all spheres of earth system sciences: air or atmosphere, water or hydrosphere, land or lithosphere, solid earth or cryosphere, life or biosphere and their interactions, reflecting its commitment to scientific and technological progress.
MoES launched the following publications to commemorate its 18th Foundation Day:
The India Meteorological Department (IMD)—a sub-ordinate office of MoES, released the 'Standard Operation Procedure on "Cyclone Warning in India" and 'Competency Framework for Monitoring and Forecasting High-impact Weather Events'.
The National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Goa—an autonomous institute of MoES, released a consolidated report on the 14th Indian Arctic Expedition (2023-24), including India's maiden winter Arctic Expedition (launched on December 18, 2023).
The Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE), Kochi—an attached office of MoES, released a catalogue entitled 'Taxonomy and Systematics of Anomuran Crabs (Paguroidea, Chirostyloidea and Galatheoidea) from the Indian EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone)'.
The first issue of the MoES Newsletter, envisaged to be a quarterly publication highlighting news, events, and updates from MoES, was also released.

SpaceX and NASA Set Crew-9 Launch for August 18

SpaceX and NASA said that they plan to launch the space agency's Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) no earlier than Aug. 18. The announcement cames a day after the Federal Aviation administration cleared SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket to return to space following a rare mid-flight failure earlier this month (July), which had grounded it.
NASA and SpaceX will embark on their ninth crew rotation mission to the ISS, with NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, Nick Hague, Stephanie Wilson, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov, launched aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket.

Jul 28, 2024

OpenAI Launches SearchGPT, a New Era in AI-Powered Search

In a bold move that could reshape the landscape of internet search, OpenAI, the company behind the revolutionary ChatGPT, announced the development of an AI-powered search engine called SearchGPT. This initiative represents a significant challenge to Google's dominance in the $200 billion search market and marks a new chapter in the ongoing AI revolution.
At present, access to the prototype is limited to a select group of users. However, OpenAI has ambitious plans for the future, intending to integrate these capabilities into ChatGPT, their flagship AI model.
The introduction of SearchGPT represents a significant leap forward in search technology. Users can expect to receive fast and efficient answers to their internet queries without the need to sift through multiple links. This streamlined approach to information retrieval could revolutionise how we interact with the vast knowledge base of the internet.

Jul 27, 2024

ISRO in Talks with European Space Agency on Ramses Mission to Track Asteroid

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is seeking to collaborate with the European Space Agency (ESA) on its newly announced Ramses mission to track and study the Apophis asteroid that is slated to make a close encounter with the Earth in 2029.
ESA is the second major space agency, after NASA, to commit a space mission for Apophis that was once considered to be on a pathway to collide with the Earth. Apophis will come within 32,000 km of the Earth in 2029, offering space agencies a rare opportunity to study an asteroid from such close quarters. ESA said an asteroid of such large size comes this close to the Earth only once in about 5,000 to 10,000 years.

Jul 26, 2024

India, UK Launch New 'Technology Security Initiative'

India and the UK announced a new 'Technology Security Initiative' (TSI) to focus on collaboration in critical and emerging technologies (CET) across multiple priority sectors.
India has similar critical technology partnership with the US. Like the India-US partnership, this too will be steered by the National Security Advisers (NSAs) of both countries.
The NSAs will set the priority areas and identify interdependencies for cooperation on critical and emerging technologies that will, in turn, help build meaningful technology value chain partnerships between the two countries. The announcement came after External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met his UK counterpart David Lammy in New Delhi.

Jul 25, 2024

Chinese Scientists Find Traces of Water in Lunar Soil Brought by Chang'e-5 Mission

Chinese scientists studying the soil samples of the moon brought by Chang'e-5 mission found water molecules in lunar soil, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The research was carried out jointly by researchers from the Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and the Institute of Physics of CAS and other domestic research institutions.
In 2009, India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft detected signs of hydrated minerals in the form of oxygen and hydrogen molecules in sunlit areas of the moon.

C-DOT, IITs Sign Pact for 6G Access Point Development

The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), Department of Telecommunications (DoT), signed an agreement with the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) and the Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi (IIT Mandi) for the development of 6G Access Points (APs).
The agreement is part of the Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) scheme of the DoT, aimed at providing funding support to domestic companies, Indian start-ups, academia, and R&D institutions involved in technology design, development, commercialisation of telecommunication products and solutions.
The project aims to develop the necessary APs to enable the upcoming 6G radio access networks. It will also contribute to the 6G standardization activity and drive commercialisation. The agreement was signed by C-DOT CEO Dr. Rajkumar Upadhyay, IIT Roorkee Principal Investigator Abhay Kumar Sah, and IIT Mandi Co-Investigator Adarsh Patel.

India's Space Sector Prowess Exhibited at Australian Space Forum

A delegation led by the Indian government's space sector regulator and facilitator, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), took part in the Australian Space Forum in Adelaide.
The delegation, led by Dr. Vinod Kumar, Director Promotion, IN-SPACe, and Shashank Saxena, Deputy Director IN-SPACe, included participants from Indian space start-ups such as Agnikul Cosmos, TakeMe2Space, Dhruva Space, Bellatrix Aerospace, XDLINX Space, mistEO OrbitAid Aerospace and Skyroot Aerospace.
At the event, in the presence of IN-SPACe officials and Enrico Palermo, Chief of the Australian Space Agency, firms from both nations signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs).
The Australian Space Forum provided an invaluable platform for Indian space start-ups to showcase their capabilities and explore potential collaborations with Australian partners. These MoUs represent a significant step towards strengthening ties between our two nations in the space sector.

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